Ethical Theories Flashcards
What is morality?
Concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong; right or good conduct
What is Blooms experiment?
Babies are drawn to the good over the neutral or the bad puppet.
What is ethics?
A system of moral principles and a branch of philosophy which defines what is good for individuals and society
What is meta ethics?
–Abstract
–nature of goodness and badness, right or wrong
What are normative ethics?
Focus is on acts
–Agent – Person performing the act,
–Act itself
–Consequences of the act
–virtue, deontological, and consequentialist–each emphasising one of these elements
What is consequentialism?
An act is evaluated solely in terms of its consequences
What is utilitarianism?
Maximising good – wellbeing/welfare; most happiness for the largest number of people
What is preference utilitarianism?
(utility increases as preference/desire is satisfied)- Hedonism/Hedonistic utilitarianism (Maximise Pleasure vs. Pain – simple sensory vs higher cognitive)
What is deontology?
Features of the act themselves determine worthiness.
•E.g., Kantianism or Virtue
What are challenges of a deontologist?
•Key concern is with duties and rights.
•Not about consequences of actions but acts have intrinsic worthiness
•Can duties conflict?
What are virtue ethics?
•Focus is on the character of the agent
•Integrates reason and emotion
•How should I act? What should do I (Ethics of obligation, deontic) V How shall I live? (ethics of character)
What is a virtue?
A virtue is a trait of character manifested in habitual action, that is good for a person to have and
What is a moral virtue?
A moral virtue is a socially AND morally valuable trait of character.
What Character traits are key for flourishing in clinical practice?
•conscience
•wisdom
•temperance
•compassion
•integrity
•justice
•honesty
What are limitations of virtue ethics?
•The assessment of virtue is culture-specific?
•The notion of virtue is too broad and non-specific to allow for practical application?
•An emphasis on the moral character of individuals ignores social and communal dimensions
What are applications of virtue ethics?
•Fitness to practise issues can be failures of virtue
•Understanding your patient’s coping strategies with regard to bad news or illness
What are care ethics?
•Motivation to care for those in need, vulnerable,
•Emphasizes the dependency within human nature
•“one-caring” and the “cared-for”—obligation to care reciprocally; meet the other morally; the ethical demand to care takes precendence
•See- Logstrup’s ethical demand, Carol Gilligan’s works
What are the four principles?
•Autonomy
•Beneficience
•Non-maleficience
•Justice
What is autonomy?
•Autos (Self), Nomos (rule/law)
•Self Determination – Liberty and Agency
•Paternalism
What is beneficience?
•provide benefit to others
•Better off than before.
What is non-maleficience?
•Do no harm
•Prevent/reduce harm
What is justice?
•Utility/QALYs/
•Need vs benefit
•Aristotelian equality – like case like and unlike cases differently
